as in speck
a very small piece
surreptitiously removed a flyspeck of dirt from the china
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Recent Examples of flyspeck
That’s a flyspeck in a galaxy that measures 100,000 light years across and a universe that is a staggering 94 billion light years.
—
Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 21 Dec. 2022
Sooty blotch looks like a brown or black blotch on the fruit; sooty blotch, unlike flyspeck, will wipe off the fruit.
—Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 2 June 2022
Travelers jumping into the West Texas badlands from Mexico through Candelaria, a flyspeck village 50 miles up two-lane blacktop northwest of Presidio, might be deceived by the prevailing verdant quiet.
—Dudley Althaus, San Antonio Express-News, 26 June 2021
To those who grew up with Duncan in the U.S. Virgin Islands, their friend’s voyage from a picturesque flyspeck in the middle of the ocean to the basketball Hall of Fame was equal parts preordained and inconceivable.
—Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 14 May 2021
But with a thousand islands scattered along their country’s jade-green Adriatic coast, from deserted flyspecks to hipster outposts, there’s no shortage of places to lick one’s wounds—or bask in silver-medal glory.
—Anja Mutić, WSJ, 19 July 2018
Compared to this, Comcast is a flyspeck, and Charter hasn’t even gotten started.
—David Dayen, The New Republic, 30 Apr. 2018
Amid these forces, Fed rate hikes are a relative flyspeck, says Doug Duncan, chief economist of Fannie Mae.
—Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 14 June 2017
For a mere flyspeck, Bogoslof Island has been causing quite a commotion recently.
—Henry Fountain, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2016
Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 21 Dec. 2022
Sooty blotch looks like a brown or black blotch on the fruit; sooty blotch, unlike flyspeck, will wipe off the fruit.
—Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 2 June 2022
Travelers jumping into the West Texas badlands from Mexico through Candelaria, a flyspeck village 50 miles up two-lane blacktop northwest of Presidio, might be deceived by the prevailing verdant quiet.
—Dudley Althaus, San Antonio Express-News, 26 June 2021
To those who grew up with Duncan in the U.S. Virgin Islands, their friend’s voyage from a picturesque flyspeck in the middle of the ocean to the basketball Hall of Fame was equal parts preordained and inconceivable.
—Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 14 May 2021
But with a thousand islands scattered along their country’s jade-green Adriatic coast, from deserted flyspecks to hipster outposts, there’s no shortage of places to lick one’s wounds—or bask in silver-medal glory.
—Anja Mutić, WSJ, 19 July 2018
Compared to this, Comcast is a flyspeck, and Charter hasn’t even gotten started.
—David Dayen, The New Republic, 30 Apr. 2018
Amid these forces, Fed rate hikes are a relative flyspeck, says Doug Duncan, chief economist of Fannie Mae.
—Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 14 June 2017
For a mere flyspeck, Bogoslof Island has been causing quite a commotion recently.
—Henry Fountain, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flyspeck
Noun
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This obviously means piece of peach or speck of fish or smear of hotness — but in French, therefore classy.—
Heather Havrilesky,
New York Times,
22 Feb. 2025
-
The moon appears incredibly large in the foreground of the image since it is located much closer to Earth than Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, which, by comparison, appears as nearly a speck behind the prominent natural satellite.—
Samantha Mathewson,
Space.com,
15 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Tips and Tricks: During this event, the moon will begin to travel in front of the Pleiades stars around 11 P.M. Eastern Time, concealing several of the blueish flecks as the night goes on.—
Stephanie Vermillion,
Outside Online,
13 Feb. 2025
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Once the snowmelt begins and flecks of greenery emerge from the powder, many skiers assume the party’s over.—
Miles Howard,
AFAR Media,
6 Feb. 2025
Noun
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That is unique to our show, and did inform a little bit of not knowing what’s going on in Lumon.—
Matt Minton,
Variety,
14 Mar. 2025
-
But, right after the speech, somebody kept a little bit of the board un-wiped to preserve it, while, someone else rushed to the board and took away the piece of chalk that Einstein had used for his writing.—
Somayeh Malekian,
ABC News,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Microplastics are plastic particles smaller than five millimeters.—
Bill Frist,
Forbes,
13 Mar. 2025
-
The agency will also revisit rules such as water pollution limits for coal plants, air quality standards for small particles and the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions by large emitters like oil and gas companies.—
Elizabeth Robinson,
NBC News,
13 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
However, nasturtiums don’t mind growing in the light shade cast by asparagus plants and asparagus beetles are less likely to visit a patch of asparagus if nasturtiums are growing nearby.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
12 Mar. 2025
-
Grant ended up meeting a group of Dina’s friends at a pumpkin patch in Chicago.—
Dana Rose Falcone,
People.com,
11 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have retired and Djokovic’s sand timer is running out of grain.—
Tim Ellis,
Forbes,
16 Mar. 2025
-
Its 14-bit raw DNG images provide the most leeway to edit color and exposure in the lower register (ISO 100-3200), as well as the least amount of luminance noise, the digital version of film grain.—
PCMAG,
PCMAG,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Like the customers in that Maryland pizza parlor, the public has grafted their own experiences, biases, and political views onto the scraps of Mangione’s background that have been reported so far.—
Lorena O'Neil,
Rolling Stone,
9 Mar. 2025
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The band, which hails from the Ciudad Juarez/El Paso borderlands, plays a brand of music that takes scraps of genres like cumbia sonidera, funk and pop to create something wholly unique.—
Fidel Martinez,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The boxy portable projector made its soft debut at CES 2025, and has subsequently appeared at MWC in Barcelona, with TCL drip feeding a few snippets of information at each event.—
Paul Ridden,
New Atlas,
14 Mar. 2025
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Despite maintaining her kids' privacy, Conrad enjoys sharing snippets of their personalities and interests, including Liam's love of gardening fresh veggies.—
Emy LaCroix,
People.com,
13 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Flyspeck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flyspeck. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.
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